The Netherlands World Criminal Court: 20 years in prison for massacre in Sudan
A good 20 years after the massacres in Darfur in Sudan, the International Criminal Court has sentenced an ex-militia chief to 20 years in prison. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (76) is responsible for crimes of "unimaginable cruelty", said presiding judge Joanna Korner in The Hague.
09.12.2025, 11:42
09.12.2025, 14:15
SDA
He had already been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity - including murder, rape and torture - by the judges in October. It was the first verdict of the World Criminal Court on the crimes in Darfur.
According to the court, the defendant, also known as Ali Kuscheib, was one of the most important leaders of the government-backed Janjaweed militia, which is held responsible for the murder of around 300,000 people in the Darfur region between 2003 and 2006.
Hardly any mitigating circumstances
According to the judges, they saw very few reasons to mitigate the sentence. However, the sentence was shorter because Abd-Al-Rahman had voluntarily surrendered in 2020 and because of his advanced age of 76.
The prosecution had demanded life imprisonment. The defense had already filed an appeal against the verdict. The pre-trial detention will count towards the sentence. It is not yet known in which country he will serve his sentence.
Numerous witnesses
Abd-Al-Rahman had denied all accusations. He surrendered to the court in summer 2020. Numerous witnesses had identified him and described the mass murders, torture, rape and looting in detail during the trial.
The civil war in southern Sudan broke out a good 20 years ago. The UN Security Council had tasked the International Criminal Court with prosecuting the Darfur massacres. So far, there has only been one trial.
Violence in Darfur today too
These days, too, there are regular reports of massacres and rape as a weapon of war from Darfur. The RSF militia, whose members are in the tradition of the Janjaweed, has been waging a bloody power struggle against the government army for two and a half years and, following the capture of the town of Al-Fashir in North Darfur, controls all the important towns in the region. After the fall of Al-Fashir, there were mass shootings, as reported by survivors who had fled. Many of the city's inhabitants were victims of violence as they fled. Aid organizations report massive sexual violence against women and girls during the flight and after the capture of the city.
